It was the final moments of a recent morning shootaround in Atlanta. Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard was alone at one basket, putting in work on a jump hook shot still under construction.

Sensing something not quite right, coach Gregg Popovich strode over, took the ball himself and, easing his 64-year-old backside into Leonard's broad chest, demonstrated the proper way to execute the shot.

If his coach's hands-on teaching approach was a sign of how much more is to be expected of Leonard this season, well, Leonard didn't see it that way.

“He does that maybe twice a year,” Leonard said, chuckling. “Just out there trying to be a coach I guess.”

Entering his third season, Leonard, 22, has been tabbed as a future star and the future face of the franchise by Popovich.

Now comes the hard work of lifting Leonard to that lofty level.

Leonard raised his scoring average by four points to 11.2 per game his sophomore season, then upped the ante by notching 14.5 points and 11.1 rebounds against Miami in the NBA Finals.

With Leonard's standout June finish as a springboard, Popovich said he plans to use him in greater and more varied ways on offense this season.

The Spurs will use the 6-foot-7 Leonard at times in the post, a place Popovich has not dispatched a small forward with regularity since Sean Elliott retired in 2001.

Popovich said he also plans to call more plays for Leonard within the offense. That part should be easy.

“I've called as many plays for him as I used to call for Mario Elie, and that was zero,” Popovich said. “I probably have to call his number more.”

In return, Popovich said, Leonard must promise to take any shot available to him.

“We want him to shoot more,” Popovich said. “I want him to make me tell him it was a bad shot. I don't want to have to go to him and say, 'Hey, you're open. Shoot it.'”

The full force of Leonard's growing new role was on display early in a 121-96 preseason loss at Miami on Saturday.

Thirty seconds into the game, Leonard received a pass on the wing, took one hard dribble to free himself from defender Dwyane Wade and buried a pull-up 20-footer.

In the second quarter, the Spurs posted Leonard on consecutive possessions. On the first, he passed out of a double team to an open Danny Green for a corner 3-pointer. On the next, he drew a foul on Wade.

“It's going to add something new for us,” guard Manu Ginobili said of Leonard's occasional adventures on the low block. “With his length, those huge hands and long arms, he can really finish. It gives the other team something else to guard.”

In all, Leonard scored 13 of the Spurs' first 15 points against the champion Heat. He finished the first half, and the game, with a team-leading 17. He was 6 of 7 from the field.

“I've been working on my game a lot, just been keeping it sharp,” Leonard said. “Hopefully I can deliver when I get my plays called, because they can easily get pulled away if I'm not making anything happen.”

Up until this point in his NBA career, Leonard's points have come largely on 3-pointers in the flow of the offense, breakneck rim-runs after steals and put-backs after offensive rebounds. His scoring has been an afterthought.

So far in a shoot-first, ask-questions-later preseason, Leonard says he is not having flashbacks to college at San Diego State but to high school in Riverside, Calif.

Leonard has been the Spurs' third-leading scorer in the preseason, averaging 11 points in 17.5 minutes per game.

“That's what I've always been, a scorer,” Leonard said. “They slowed me down in college a little bit, but it's natural for me to go out and shoot the ball.”

It remains to be seen how all this will work once the regular season tips off.

The Spurs' offense will still run primarily through All-Star point guard Tony Parker. Two other future Hall of Famers — Tim Duncan and Ginobili — will need touches, too.

For now, Leonard remains free to fire at will. Popovich wouldn't have it any other way.

“He just wants me to learn for myself,” Leonard said. “Go out there and throw up any shot so I can learn and see what the defense is. Just so I can experience it for myself instead of him telling me every day. You have to play to learn the game and get better.”